a. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to bumper mounting assemblies, and more particularly to an integrated bracket to mount both a vehicle's bumper and a tow hook to the vehicle's frame.
b. Description of Related Art
Vehicle bumpers are commonly secured to vehicle frames by bolting the vehicle bumper assembly to a substantially vertical mounting plate welded to the vehicle's frame. If the vehicle is involved in a collision, the impact energy of the collision is transferred from the bumper to the vehicle's frame, commonly resulting in the structural deformation of the mounting plate. To replace the damaged bumper assembly after such a collision, the front frame horn must be manually reshaped to re-establish the vertical planar orientation of the mounting plate. If the structural damage is severe, the damaged front frame horn must be cut away from the vehicle's frame and a new front frame horn and mounting plate must be welded to the frame in its place. In either case, the work is cumbersome, labor-intensive, and can be relatively expensive.
An additional problem commonly encountered in the automotive industry involves the mounting of tow hooks to a vehicle. For pick-up trucks or sport utility vehicles, tow hooks are commonly secured to the vehicle frame by welding the tow hook to a mounting plate, and then welding the mounting plate to a surface on the vehicle frame. This mounting method ensures a strong connection between the tow hook and the vehicle's frame, providing the strength necessary for the tow hook to be used to tow loads or support the towing of the vehicle by another vehicle. However, these two independent welding processes can result in increased labor and part expenses.
In order to overcome the problems associated with traditional tow hook mounting methods, tow hook mounting devices that do not involve welding have been developed. U.S. Pat. No. 6,802,522 to Park discloses a tow hook (10) bolted to a mounting base (100). While the weld plate and welding operations of the conventional tow hook mounting method appear to be eliminated, several problems remain. Specifically, the tow hook of Park requires an independent manufacturing operation to mount the tow hook to a bumper mounting plate coupled to the vehicle's frame horn, resulting in higher labor costs. Additionally, the bumper mounting plate supporting the tow hook is welded to the vehicle's frame, and thus a collision as previously described would still require a cutting and welding operation to replace the damaged mounting plate, resulting in expensive and time-consuming repairs.
Still other bumper mounting devices attempt to overcome the aforementioned shortcomings of welding the bumper assembly mounting plate to the frame while also attempting to reduce the cost associated with an independent tow hook mounting operation. Specifically, U.S. Patent App. Pub. No. 2006/0255603 to Rebuffet et at (hereinafter “Rebuffet”) discloses a multi-chambered extruded beam bumper (35) secured in a transverse orientation by mechanically fastening plate (34) to the frame horn. Plate (34) is welded to a cylindrical connecting element (21), and a central cylindrical hollow chamber (24) is centrally disposed within connecting element (21) and adapted to receive a threaded towing hook (31).
However, many drawbacks still exist with the device of Rebuffet. Primarily, a collision will result in the costly replacement of the entire bumper structure since the bumper beam of Rebuffet is designed to deform to absorb the energy of the collision. Additionally, many vehicles do not have a transverse bumper beam as disclosed by Rebuffet because the bumper structure itself is engineered to plastically deform in a low impact collision, absorbing energy and snapping back into its original shape. Also, hollow chamber (24) must be tapped to receive the threaded end of tow hook (31), resulting in an additional precision manufacturing operation that results in increased costs for the manufacturer. Finally, the tow hooks of Rebuffet are not permanently attached to the vehicle's frame and can thus be misplaced or stolen.
It is therefore desirable to provide a bumper mounting bracket that allows for a quick and relatively inexpensive replacement of a bumper assembly after a collision while at the same time eliminating the costly manufacturing operation of securing the tow hook to the vehicle frame.